The Blast - September 8, 2025

42 days until early voting begins
57 days until the November election
61 days until the 2026 primary candidate filing period begins
91 days until the 2026 primary candidate filing deadline

IN TODAY’S BLAST

• Abbott to set age requirements for THC in new EO

• Texas GOP’s lawyer bemoans SREC’s feud ahead of legal blitz

• GOP ballot props, third special request and censures

• Sam Harless to retire

ABBOTT TO SET AGE REQUIREMENTS FOR THC IN NEW EO

Gov. Greg Abbott will soon issue an executive order to regulate THC and set a minimum age of 21 to purchase those products in Texas, according to three people who spoke with the governor’s office.

The Legislature’s second special session of the year ended last week after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced that the House, the Senate and Abbott would not reach a deal on the matter. Patrick has been dead set on a full ban, but Abbott called for a regulatory framework like one he outlined on page 3 of his Senate Bill 3 veto letter.

At Friday’s camp safety bill signing, reporters asked Abbott whether he would wait till 2027 for a THC bill or call a special session. 

“I will say, stay tuned on that,” Abbott answered. “Something may be happening soon.”

The timeline for an executive order isn’t certain, but Abbott is expected to direct the Department of State Health Services to establish rules governing THC. Sources have seen a document outlining a potential framework for the rules, although they stressed that the framework isn’t final.

• 21-and-up age minimum to purchase or enter certain businesses

• ID checking

• Distance requirements from schools

• Labeling requirements

• Testing products for THC content

• Fee increases for businesses 

Rules like that would regulate THC sales in a manner akin to liquor stores and could be seen as picking liquor stores as a winner amid declining alcohol sales nationally. Supermarkets and other stores that sell beer and wine — and THC products currently — could be barred from sales.

“Legislators could consider a structure similar to the way alcohol is regulated, with strict enforcement by an agency like the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission,” Abbott floated in his June veto letter.

Abbott’s office declined to comment.

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TEXAS GOP’S LAWYER BEMOANS SREC’S FEUD AHEAD OF LEGAL BLITZ

Now that Legislature’s work appears to be done, the Texas GOP has a busy few months ahead, and the party’s general counsel, Rachel Hooper, is imploring members of the State Republican Executive Committee to put a lid on their infighting or maybe take a hike.

Last week, the Texas GOP sued the Texas Secretary of State, demanding the party be allowed to close its primaries. Additionally, midnight tonight marks the deadline for local parties to ask the SREC to punish members who didn’t toe the party line, up to and including barring them from the 2026 primary ballot.

Yet the continued saber-rattling at government officials comes at the same time party leaders have pared down their criticism of elected Republicans, particularly in the state House. Unity has been the word of the year, and at the SREC’s quarterly meeting on Saturday, Hooper asked members to practice it themselves.

“There are people who actively work against our efforts in this group, actively, every single day,” Hooper said. “This is their purpose, to work against us.”

Members of the SREC have complained about the party’s direction to “keyboard warriors” and divulged details from the panel’s closed-door meetings, she chastised.

“You’re hurting yourself, you’re hurting this organization, and I’m going to beg you, once again, to stop it,” Hooper continued. “What we are undertaking over the next few months is serious business, and if you can’t do it, maybe you shouldn’t be here.”

The Texas Republican political environment is in a bit of a different place than when the party adopted rules in the spring of 2024 to close its primary and boot lawmakers who break with the party. The Texas GOP was in the middle of a tumultuous primary cycle with then-House Speaker Dade Phelan as the common denominator between Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment, a “liberal” House, the censure effort and closing the primaries.

With Speaker Dustin Burrows in charge, party officials have praised the more conservative direction of the House.

The Texas GOP and the SREC have a lot of intraparty critics. Many say the party does more to attack elected Republicans than it does to elect them. But as the party tones down its critique of House officials, a growing contingent says the party isn’t doing enough to punish Republicans who “enable” House Democrats.

“There’s been criticism, ‘Oh my God, we’re unifying with the speaker,’” Hooper said. “Hell yes, he’s the speaker of the House. We want things done. None of us want to be one of those people who’s just yelling and getting nothing done.”

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GOP BALLOT PROPS, THIRD SPECIAL REQUEST AND CENSURES

Apart from the open primaries lawsuit and censure resolutions, another task for the Texas GOP is finalizing its list of 10 propositions to appear on the 2026 primary ballot.

Ballot propositions aren’t binding, but they take the temperature of the primary electorate on various policy proposals and help to inform the party platform, which the Texas GOP will revisit at its next statewide convention in Houston in June 2026.

Questions will ask about eliminating property taxes, prohibiting Sharia law, term limits, banning Democrats from legislative committee chairmanships and more.

The SREC also greenlit resolutions asking Gov. Greg Abbott to call the Legislature back into a special session to carve up 22 Democrat-controlled state House districts and to ban taxpayer-funded lobbying.

A state House redistricting resolution was expected, but the taxpayer-funded lobbying resolution relitigates an issue that has died year after year, including in both of this year’s special sessions.

The SREC’s resolution lays the blame on House State Affairs Committee Chair Ken King, R-Canadian. An earlier draft also named Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe, and freshman Rep. John McQueeney, R-Fort Worth. However, it’s not clear how hard the latest draft cracks down on those two, if at all.

The deadline for local GOPs to submit censure resolutions demanding a penalty against lawmakers is at midnight. As of Saturday, the SREC had received resolutions targeting the following state representatives:

• Angie Chen Button of Garland

• Cody Harris of Palestine

• Stan Lambert of Abilene (retiring)

• Jeff Leach of Allen

• Morgan Meyer of University Park

• Angelia Orr of Itasca

• Jared Patterson of Frisco

• Dade Phelan of Beaumont (retiring)

• Gary VanDeaver of New Boston

The SREC has also received multiple censure submissions against Speaker Dustin Burrows. However, those censures originated outside of his district and therefore won’t be valid when challenged by an SREC member.

The panel’s Resolutions Committee has already been combing through submissions and will continue to do so until its Oct. 11 meeting in the Capitol auditorium. The committee has set aside that day to decide whether to implement any punishment against those members, including banning them from the primary ballot.

And the party’s general counsel, Rachel Hooper, made sure the committee knows Amarillo businessman Alex Fairly stands ready to defend incumbent Republicans in court to the tune of $20 million.

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SAM HARLESS TO RETIRE

State Rep. Sam Harless, R-Spring, announced today that he will not seek reelection.

“I went to Austin, not for politics, but for purpose, and recent sessions have been both physically and mentally challenging,” Harless said in a Facebook post. He cited spending time to focus on his health, his family and his granddaughter.

Harless took office in 2019, succeeding one-term Rep. Kevin Roberts of Houston, who lost a 2018 congressional primary runoff against now-U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Humble. Roberts was preceded by Harless’ wife, Patricia Harless. Together, the Harlesses own Fred Fincher Motors, a used car dealership in Houston.

Sam Harless served as chair of the Corrections Committee under Speaker Dustin Burrows and chair of the Select Committee on Health Care Reform the prior two sessions. In 2023, he joined Republican Justin Holland of Rockwall in working with Democrats on what was more or less a last-ditch symbolic vote to advance a bill to raise the age to purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. Holland did not survive his 2024 primary.

In a statement, Burrows called him a “man of great integrity” and a “stalwart statesman.”

Harless marks the latest Republican leaving the House this “musical chairs” cycle.

Seeking another office:

• Trent Ashby of Lufkin

• Briscoe Cain of Deer Park

• David Cook of Mansfield

• John Lujan of San Antonio

• Dennis Paul of Houston

• Tony Tinderholt of Arlington

• Steve Toth of Conroe

Retirements:

• Giovanni Capriglione of Southlake

• Stan Lambert of Abilene

• Former Speaker Dade Phelan of Beaumont

On top of that, four senators aren’t returning: Brian Birdwell of Granbury, Brandon Creighton of Conroe, Mayes Middleton of Galveston and Robert Nichols of Jacksonville. A fifth, Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills, already left to become the acting comptroller and run for that statewide office.

More House members are rumored to jump in for various races. Creighton’s seat, for example, doesn’t have a potential successor in the mix yet.

And that’s just the Republican side.

• TX-SEN: State Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, is expected to launch his campaign tomorrow. Read the story here.

• TX-23: Republican Susan Storey Rubio dropped her primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, citing getting drawn out of the district. She had posted $350,000 of her own cash and raised $58,000 in the first three weeks of her campaign back in June. “God will be revealing the next phase of it in the coming days,” she said in a Facebook post.

• TX-33: Freshman U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Farmers Branch, told CBS Texas’ Jack Fink that she is considering running in the central Dallas County district after her current district, TX-32, was drawn to be a Trump +18 district.

• HD-47: Former Travis County Democratic Party Chair Pooja Sethi officially launched her campaign. She was chief of staff to outgoing Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, who is running for lieutenant governor.

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• Gov. Greg Abbott will do a ceremonial bill signing on rural health care legislation at the Hyatt Regency Austin tomorrow as part of the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals fall conference. The governor will be joined by state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock; state Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian; and state Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston.

• Quorum Report’s Scott Braddock teased Quorum Report Radio and “The Scott Braddock Show.” It comes after Braddock cut ties with the Houston Chronicle’s “Texas Take” podcast.

“How Democrats pressured U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett to step aside for the next generation” by Gabby Birenbaum of The Texas Tribune

“NY attorney general will intervene in Texas abortion pill access lawsuit” by Alex Nguyen of The Texas Tribune

Blakemore sighting: “Company behind East Texas water grab hired key lobbyists just before bill delaying it died” by Megan Kimble of the Houston Chronicle

“Austin ISD to host meetings on closures as 12 more schools are flagged for failing grades” by Katy McAfee of KUT

“How a 75-year-old Tex-Mex restaurant became a magnet for politicians and artists” by Patricia Sharpe of Texas Monthly

#txlege was a little weak today. Better step it up in the interim!

Do you or someone in your office have a birthday you’d like mentioned? Email us.

(Sept. 9) Businesswoman Leyla Hughes, wife of state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola

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